Dinner for one is nice with a book, but it gets old. Going where you want when you want is nice but you’ll want someone to share with. Meeting new people is ok, but not easy and not often.

I traveled alone by train for the first time when I was about 10 years old, though not abroad.

There are Europe-wide train tickets you can buy, I’d recommend this if you’re curious. Plenty to see.

Some comments mention safety, probably Americans who don’t realize how safe Europe is. Though of course something bad can always happen.

they said that since we’re stuck in Switzerland and I seem quite bored, and since I’m a legal adult now, why don’t I go on a trip abroad alone?

Personally, I never traveled abroad alone…

The only “travelling” I’ve done without parents was on school trips… (I remember going to Washington, DC once.)

I think its benefits doesn’t outweight the costs for me.

If I was still in China, maybe I would have more of an incentive… I mean its hard to get information from within the country due to censorship, so I’d probably be more willing to take risks and go abroad… I would probabaly have more willpower to just “tough it out”.

But I already won the “lottery” (metaphorically, China isn’t actually eligible for an actual lottery since there are already too many people trying to leave) of being able to get out as a family… so eh…

The thing is… I felt safe(ish) when I was a kid under my parent’s protection. Every burden of documents and planning is on parents, you get to be stress free and be ignorant to everything…

Idk if I could manage everything solo like visas, going to various appointments for documents… getting place tickets… waiting in an airport, making sure my stuff isn’t being stolen… booking hotels…

and the most important thing… making sure yoi have enough funds…

just thinking about it feels stressful.

Internet here is uncensored afiak so I feel like I have even less of an incentive to do traveling right now…

The US is kinda big… I still haven’t even explored my adoptive country yet… only been to NYC and Philly…

there are still so many places I could go domestically and its less stressful (aside from ICE… but if I go abroad re-entry to the US isn’t exactly gonne be fun either)

I’ve always wanted to go to Canada as a family (minus the toxic brother… haven’t gotten along with him for many years now)… Like it just feels less terrifying to be with family. Never gotten around to doing it… always putting it off and procrastinating (parents had the funds but I think they were busy)… then Covid hit and then the thought of travel sort of went out the window for a while…

Then I got depression…

And then we got a “new sheriff in town”

So now I don’t wanna be crossing borders for 3 more years… 👀

TLDR: Emigrated with family, never really travelled solo, lacking the motivivations + anxiety/depression make it hard to do it solo.

I once drove cross country in the US from my home in the Ohio valley to the California coast. I have never been on an airplane and had only traveled to the biomes of Appalachia, Great Lakes, or Floridian beach.

I had a wonderful (spiritual?) experience driving through the New Mexico desert. I had never seen so much LAND visible from my point of view, and I got lucky to see this while driving westward at sunrise. Even after seeing the Grand Canyon on this same trip, I wasn’t as affected as I was when I saw the expansive desert.

I am a tall Caucasian male though, so I had a built-in sense of security. It can be a tenuous plan for plucky youngsters, especially young women, safety-wise.

It’s a great experience! I did a lot of solo travelling by train, bike or even hiking as a girl of 17-25 years old in europe. In my experience 99% of people are super nice and helpful and most people that weren’t had an issue with me not speaking the local language or were drunk at the time (daydrinkers, I did not go out to clubs or cafes at night on my own). Italy was the only place where I constantly felt unsafe as a woman, and they unfortunately have a bad record. Other countries I visited include czech republic, romania, hungary, austria, france, spain, belgium, germany and the uk, with no issues (I’m dutch).

Some considerations: While travelling you have noone to watch your bags, so make sure your luggage fits with you in a toilet stall and that you can store your bags somewhere the moment you get someplace. Travelling as light as possible improves the whole experience. There will be a lot of lonely time especially while travelling between places/hostels, so bring a good book or podcast, but also be prepared to enter into random conversations with strangers. With stuff like train delays that are only announced in the native language, it’s good if you have the confidence to ask around for help.

Yes. It was the same as any traveling, just quieter because didn’t have another person to talk to.

But it was liberating just being able to do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted without having to worry about someone else’s schedule or desires.

The only boring part was probably having to eat and be in a hotel alone.

For the first time I recommend going for 5-7 days. You need to learn how to function alone without stressing too much because you’ll be home soon anyway.

Hostels are an excellent idea. Usually people who congregate there are quite social and willing to interact with strangers. Ot at least that’s how it used to be before Covid. I’m old.

Be ready to do things on your own without friends or without even strangers you met on the trip.

A healthy level of suspicion is needed to avoid scams. If someone wants your money, regardless of the excuse, leave immediately.

I’ve done it dozens of times and it has been positive. However, with that, there are things you should be aware of:

• You are the one handling logistics. You’re handling getting on your mode of transit, checking into a hotel, buying tickets, everything. It isn’t hard, but it is your responsibility.

• You don’t have a person as a backup in case you lose something. I usually carry multiple credit cards/forms of ID/ways to log into my relevant Internet accounts. I also don’t carry them together.

• You may want to plan tours or activities involving others. I don’t know if you like to be alone a lot, but solo travel can be somewhat self isolating and it helps to plan something where you engage with others.

Yeah, it’s good, but I’m alone pretty much all of the time. Just figure out if there’s something you want to do, and if there is, you’ll like it.

… I almost never travel not solo, so apologies if I don’t know what the other side of the coin is like

I think the biggest advantage is the absolutely ridiculous amount of freedom, because you can cater to 100% of your own needs, and your own needs alone. Want trip to be cheap? Youth hostels and 10-hour Flix/Blablacar buses exist. Want to do nerdy things only you are interested in? No need to care for travel companions for “wasting” 10-hours in a modern arts museum or anything like that

I did hear that some people find traveling alone a bit lonely though… so maybe it is not for everyone. Oh and maybe booking restaurants can get a tad awkward depending on the place I travel to

Yeah I’ve done it a few times mostly just doing rail travel across Europe and it’s an absolute joy.

It gives you the opportunity to have a pretty much perfect itinerary for yourseof getting to see exactly what you want where you want.

I’ve often found it can get a little lonely feeling in longer journeys so I’ve often made plans to left up with friends who are on holiday too or live near where I’m going and that’s always nice.

I traveled in Central and South America via essentially backpacking for 6 weeks when I was 19. It was a wild ride and I had a bunch of fun while learning a ton. That said, I’m a big huge dude even then covered in tats. I didn’t feel nervous aside from a few particularly sketchy interactions. If I was an 18 year old girl I don’t think I would have done that alone. But that might be me being paranoid. It’s definitely an enriching experience but I’m not positive on safety for a solo teenage girl.

I’m a man so obviously YMMV but I went away for a year solo and it was quite literally the best thing I ever did.

I couldn’t find anyone who wanted to travel right after COVID so I decided I’d go to Costa rica my self. I think it was a worthwhile experience. I’m not outwardly shy but am still really scared when I talk to new people and I think putting myself in that situation really forced me to talk to a bunch of strangers. It didn’t always work out but I met a lot of cool people and Costa Rica is a really fun place to be if you like to be active.

Some time has to be the first time, you’ll do fine, nervous, but fine. Do you have anything you want to see or do is a better question? Not much point going somewhere unless you want to do that.